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Game 7: Half-Day's Work

Posted Jan 30, 2013
by Aaron Portzline

Blue Jackets coach Todd Richards has no interest in coaching a bunch of lovable losers. Only seven games into the season, Richards sounded the alarm tonight that he's tired of his players falling so far short of their promised identity as one of the NHL's tightest-checking clubs. He's tired of the "hard-working" label being little more than public relations at this point.

After tonight's 3-2 loss to the Wild, in which the Jackets came back from a 2-0 deficit only to lose on a Pierre-Marc Bouchard breakaway late in the third, Richards blocked out all possible excuses and pointed his ire across the hallway and into the Blue Jackets' dressing room.

“We played 30 minutes of hockey,” Richards said. “We played the first 10 minutes and then we played the last 20. We tie it up and you want the point or the two points, but when you sit back and think about the game and how it went, how we played … in the end we got exactly what we deserved. Because we weren’t good enough for 60 minutes.”

When asked if fatigue was to blame, Richards said: “Nope.”

When asked if confidence was lacking, Richards got revved back up again.

“You get confidence by doing things the right way, over and over and over,” Richards said. “I can’t give the guys confidence. I can help in certain areas, but it’s got to come from the guys. It’s got to come from within.”

These are not typical post-game feelings from Richards, but he doesn't like what he thinks he sees. The Blue Jackets are 2-4-1. The lost tonight to a Wild club that was ripe for the picking. You might say the same thing about Chicago on Saturday, also a 3-2 loss.

The Blue Jackets weren't altogether poor tonight. Goaltender Steve Mason had 23 saves in what is surely his most composed, solid-looking performance of the season. Yes, the Wild's first goal - scored by Mikko Koivu -- went in off the back end of Mason's right skate, but Mason more than made up for it the rest of the way.

He stopped all 15 shots in the second period. Early in the second, Mason stopped Matt Cullen on a bang-bang feed from Devin Setoguchi off a 2-on-1 rush. Late in the second, made a marvelous left toe save on a Zach Parise wrap-around attempt.

"That was a big save, a timely save we needed in that position of the game," Mason said. "That's what I need to do. I hope to continue doing that."

In the third, after the Wild had taken a 3-2 lead, he stopped Bouchard on a penalty shot to keep it a one-goal game.

"(Mason) was great," Richards said. "I'm sure if you talked to Steve he'd say the Koivu goal (1-0) can't go in. But after that, he was tremendous. The saves he made ... I could go on and one with the chances. He kept it there."

Richards also was pleased with his fourth line -- Derek MacKenzie, Mark Letestu and Jared Boll. Those three fulfilled his wish from earlier today that his forwards would begin possessing the puck more in the offensive zone, grinding down the opponents and negating the skill disadvantage the Jackets are bound to face most nights.

At 14:59 of the second period, after a long, grindy shift with support from defenseman Jack Johnson and James Wisniewski, the Blue Jackets broke through against Wild goaltender Niklas Backstrom. Wisniewski's point shot was not cleanly corralled by Backstrom, allowing the puck to dribble into the slot and Letestu to push it over the line.

It was 2-1.

Early in the third, the Jackets pulled off a feat even bigger than scoring. They scored a power play goal, ending an 0 for 23 drought on the man advantage. At 7:32 of the third, Johnson fired from the top of the slot through a mess of bodies. R.J. Umberger may have provided the best obstacle, such that Backstrom never saw it.

It was 2-2, but the Jackets were losing bodies just as they were gaining momentum.

Defenseman Adrian Aucoin did not play in the third period after suffering a lower-body injury. Defenseman Nikita Nikitin played only one shift after he was boarded by Minnesota's Darroll Powe at 2:56 of the third.

Suddenly, the Jackets were down to four defensemen. Skatin' Johnny Moore, who has played with Aucoin, saddled up for the rest of the game next to Fedor Tyutin, who has paired with Nikitin.

It may have played a role in the Wild's go-ahead goal.

With 5:19 to play, the Wild roared out of their end with speed, getting the puck out behind two Columbus forechecking and generating much speed as they came through the neutral zone. Torrey Mitchell carried the puck into the zone, then dropped the sweetest, softest pass to Bouchard, who barely was on the blue line when he gathered the puck.

Bouchard had enough speed to split Moore and Tyutin, and he beat Mason -- high glove -- to make it 3-2.

Mason would face Bouchard again on this night. With 4:11 to play, Bouchard was awarded a penalty shot after he nearly got past Tyutin again. This time, Tyutin used his stick to water ski behind Bouchard, prompting the penalty.

This time, Mason denied Bouchard to keep the score 3-2. But the Blue Jackets did not have another goal in them.

Slap shots:

-- Richards made it clear that he addressed the team after the second period. "Oh, yeah." Asked if any players spoke, he said he wasn't sure.

-- It's times like this when you find a captain. Still don't think the Blue Jackets are close to naming one, though. For now, they'll keep rotating the As until one of them emerges as a C.

-- Bouchard's penalty shot was the 21st penalty shot against the Jackets in this, their 12th season. Six have scored. Mason has stopped all three he's faced, denying Detroit's Todd Bertuzzi, Los Angeles' Patrick O'Sullivan and now Bouchard.

-- The Blue Jackets may be looking at more than one call-up from minor-league Springfield on Thursday. With Nikitin and Aucoin iffy, they can fill one spot with David Savard, who was a healthy scratch for the seventh straight game tonight. But they'll need another No. 6 defenseman and perhaps someone to fill the No. 7 spot, although the Jackets will be home for a while now.

-- Left winger Matt Calvert tried to skate in warm-ups but quickly left, presumably with a lower-body injury. MacKenzie took his spot in the lineup and thrived. Calvert's injury is not expected to be serious -- he's walking without a limp, if that helps -- but the Blue Jackets will need an extra forward. Cam Atkinson is on IR, and not likely to be activated anytime soon. So don't be surprised if Jonathan Audy-Marchessaul, Nick Drazenovic or Sean Collins gets recalled in the next 24 hours.

-- NHL linesman Thor Nelson was struck in the face with a puck in the second period. He stayed in the game for a couple of more minutes, but then headed to the dressing room.

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